Turncoat
by Poison's Ivy
Summary: A story where Tim Scam never betrayed WOOHP, but Samantha Simpson did. Sam/Scam


**Title: Turncoat  
Summary: A story where Tim Scam never betrayed WOOHP, but Samantha Simpson did.  
Rating: T  
Pairing: Scam/Sam**

**Author's Note: This is a story that I've written over several months, on the train when I'm going to class or secretly in a corner when I'm waiting for people, on my phone (thank you Apps). I hope it doesn't come off as choppy because I write pieces of the story separately, not in one big continuous flow. That being said, please enjoy!**

* * *

"One of our agents has gone rogue."

Tim Scam stared at Jerry in shock. The recruitment to even enter WOOHP was so back-breaking difficult that the chances of an agent betraying WOOHP was 0.65 percent.

"Which agent? Are we sending out a mercenary team? How high up was he?"

The frown on Jerry's face grew deeper. "It's a she... And she is... was, one of my best agents." Clicking a button, Jerry turned his chair to look at the screen behind him. A smiling woman with long red-orange hair and light green eyes stared back at him.

"This is Samantha Simpson, agent number 319 and a level A category field agent in possession of the Code X spy gene. WOOHP agent for the last five years. Age 21, attends Malibu University with a 4.0 G.P.A., and is in the pre-law honors accelerated program. Her team members are Clover Ewing and Alexandra Vaccaro, who currently are unaware of her status as a rogue WOOHP agent."

"Jerry.." Tim said, his eyebrows furrowing at this information, "Why are you telling me all of this? Shouldn't another team, or even her teammates, know about this?"

Jerry sighed, looking like he had aged ten years in the last day. "Her teammates are her also her best friends... I am concerned that they will be unable to... complete the task of capturing Sam and bringing her back to headquarters for a memory wipe."

Jerry looked at Tim with sad eyes, "You may be a weapons specialist but you and I both know that you also possess the Code X spy gene and are fully capable of being an incredible field agent. So... I need _you_ to complete this mission."

"Jerry..." Tim stood up from his position on the red couch and crossed his arms as he leaned against it. "There are agents who are more experienced in the field... Who haven't been ... _hiding_ in the weapons department", he said with a bitter taste in his mouth. "Why me?"

Jerry leaned back in his chair and looked at Tim Scam with hooded eyes. "Tim, you ranked number one in our tracking and stealth program. You also ranked number one in fitness and agility, stamina and strength, and you have an I.Q. of 180... Your intelligence is superb, which is the one of two reasons I kept you in the Weapons Department... Yet you and I both know that you would excel in the field, first time or not."

Tim sighed as he gave Jerry a look of shame, "Jerry you know the reason I don't do fieldwork is because-"

"I know", Jerry said sadly. Memories of the late Thomas and Jennifer Scam came to mind. "Your parents' identities were compromised in a mission and the villains attacked them in their own home... I've been regretting that mission ever since their passing."

"I know Jerry. I don't blame you for their deaths." Tim gave him a look of knowing. "But we both know my talent is in weapons. None of the other technicians can give you 30 new designs for gadgets and blueprints for vehicles in the few months that I can."

"I know... I know." In a few years Tim would realize that Jerry only looked this old (older than usual) two times. The time when Sam went missing, and the time he declared a new successor for WOOHP.

"But I need _you,_ Tim." With a resigned sigh, Jerry stood up and sadly looked at the photo behind him. "Sam was one of a handful of our best agents... I was even considering her to become my successor."

Tim's eyes widened. "Jerry... you're considering leaving WOOHP?"

So soon?

He chuckled but the humor was missing from his voice, "Not yet. I was planning ahead... But now that option is no longer possible." Jerry's face turned solemn and he faced Tim.

"I need you to listen to me carefully Tim. Sam is an incredibly gifted individual, who knows the fighting style of every agent in this building because she helped /train them/. No one is better than her...

"Except you."

Tim realized Jerry's plan. "Because I never trained with her and was never out in the field, she would never see me coming."

Jerry nodded. "In addition to that... Tim I'm about to tell you something you can never repeat." Jerry shook his head and massaged his forehead with two fingers. "I only kept you in the weapons department because you requested it... And because you're right. You're incredibly gifted at making new gadgets.

"But I've considered you time and time again for my successor, but to do that, you need to have experience in the field."

Tim kept a straight face. "I have no interest in becoming the head of WOOHP." And also because he wasn't stupid. Field experience was just an excuse. He knew that Jerry had access to his psychological evaluations and he would never let someone with Tim's psyche be the head of an organization as powerful as WOOHP.

Samantha on the other hand... He heard about her. She was the ideal candidate. Tim knew others besides Jerry didn't think he was trustworthy enough. (It might also be due to the fact that he has a tendency to be a sarcastic asshole.) But everyone _loved_ Samantha. She had no flaws.

Until now.

"I know... But I've lost Samantha and unless a new gifted agent comes rolling through the door, I am at a huge loss. Everyone else is just... Not at the level that you two are. Do you know she came in second, right under you, in all of the aptitude tests, among the other tests I mentioned before?" He mentioned with a hint of pride.

"You really are the only person who is better than her... The only person who can beat her", he said sadly. It was obvious to Tim that Jerry loved Samantha like a daughter. Her betrayal must be killing him.

"Please Tim."

Tim licked his lips before sighing. "Okay. I accept."

"Thank you", Jerry said in a whisper, before changing the screen with a push of a button.

"Sam was supposed to come back from a mission yesterday with her teammates Clover and Alex. However", he said with a sigh, "She never came back. Clover and Alex came back on the WOOHP jet, unconscious and unresponsive. The pilot was also unconscious, and the autopilot function was turned on. We assumed the worst... One parachute was missing, so we're assuming that Sam used it to escape." Jerry showed pictures of the ruined interior of the jet. It looked like a battlefield.

"This morning our motion detectors caught a figure moving into the weapons department... You haven't had a chance to go in yet because I called you here first."

Jerry changed the slide and up came a table of the weapons arsenal and the weapons count. "We are currently missing four weapons. We suspect Sam stole them."

"What makes you think she took them?"

Jerry smiled sadly, "That was thanks to you." Jerry clicked a button and a clear shot of Sam appeared in the weapons laboratory next to a black lab desk. "I have to thank your paranoia... It's because of that hidden camera you insisted on keeping in the lab that we caught her in the act in the first place." Jerry paced around. "She hasn't reported in and she has been caught taking weapons... We can only assume she is performing her own agenda now."

With a long sigh, Jerry sat back down in his chair. "Clover and Alex are currently in WOOHP's medical facility. They woke up an hour ago and have been asking for Sam... I haven't been able to give them a definite answer... As for your weapons-"

Tim chuckled, "Don't worry Jerry. I can get my own weapons." With that, he walked out of the office.

He had a special device in mind, he thought, as he remembered a tiny red chip.

* * *

An hour later, as Tim was walking through the city, the light snow crunching under his feet, he remembered another reason he wasn't a field agent.

"For the last time Jerry, I'm not wearing one of those stupid spandex suits", he said into the phone. "... Yes I'm aware I helped design them... Yes Jerry I _know_ they're capable of giving me a costume change in a second's notice... Of course I know the stealth feature on them; I designed it!"

Knowing it would look obviously suspicious if he was talking into his wallet, Tim opted to speak to Jerry over a secure connection that he installed on his phone.

"No I haven't seen her yet." He said, rubbing his temples to relieve himself of some of the stress. "Yes, I'll call you when I get a lead." He hung up before Jerry could say anything else. The man was like a mother hen when he_ didn't_ need to be one.

Walking inside a Starbucks, Tim stood in the long line and took out his wallet. Glancing around to make sure no one saw the inside of the black leather, Tim swiped the touchscreen inside and opened a picture of Samantha, or Sam, as she was more commonly known. He realized that her hair color would have been fairly distinct... As well as the length. Frowning, he pulled up a program that allowed him to see different possibilities of an image. He changed her hair color to black, then dark brown, and realized her eyebrows would also be an issue. It was entirely possible that Sam spent some hours in a salon fixing her hair to hide its obviousness. After all, when he spent some time interviewing Clover and Alex earlier after his briefing with Jerry, it was shown that Sam wasn't too much of a materialistic woman. She would rather spend time in a library or in a lab than in a salon. No one would expect her to be there.

Walking forward as the line moved up, Tim cursed under his breath as he saw the time. Too much time had passed since her disappearance. If he was a normal field agent Jerry would have notified him of Sam's disappearance yesterday, but a handful of other agents were sent instead. No one had found her. At the moment, her betrayal was very, very low-key.

Tim sighed as he continued to fiddle with the image... It was clear that Sam did prefer her hair the way it was, but from the interview with her friends, it was also clear that Sam would do whatever it took to go into hiding. She was dedicated.

But a girl who treasured her hair that much wouldn't cut it all off... Perhaps cutting a few inches was an easier decision to make. Tim adjusted the image to shorten her hair to her mid-back.

She also was happy with her "redhead" image, if Clover had been correct. She wouldn't go too far from the color... But there was also the matter of her eyebrows. It would be difficult to continuously color her hair _and_ her eyebrows while trying to stay in hiding.

However... He thought as he eyed some obviously dyed hair colors in front of him. If she went with a dark contrasting red,,, It would make people pay more attention to her hair than her face. Satisfied with the logic, Tim adjusted her hair color to the dark red.

Color contacts would be more difficult to get at such short notice, so Tim decided to leave her eyes alone for now.

There. An image to work with.

Finally getting on line and ordering his coffee, Tim scanned the customers in the store. She would be impossible to find in this crowd... Especially in populated areas. Her car was still in their driveway, and a credit card and identification would have been needed for a rental car. That was out.

A bus perhaps? He thought as he saw a bus pull up on the road. If she was planning on going rogue for a while now, he would have expected her to have the bus fare ready. However...

_"Has she been acting odd before her disappearance?" Tim asked, knowing that his perspective could shine a new light on things._

_It took Jerry a few minutes of serious contemplation before he frowned. "Sam... Hasn't been acting like herself lately actually. I didn't notice anything unusual until a few missions ago... She was quieter. I thought she was just stressed from school but... Now that I think about it, it was as if she was trying to...", Jerry gulped, "To plot something."_

It was possible that she was under mind control. Tim subconsciously rubbed his hand against his left jeans pocket, as if to assure himself that something was still there.

Sighing, Tim decided to visit her home. With her teammates out of commission at the medical bay, it was sure to have no... missing or hidden clues that her teammates might have hid to protect their friend. (Not that he had any clue of that. But he was paranoid, which was the only reason he was still alive.)

The rest of WOOHP might have been jealous of his skills or annoyed by them, he didn't particularly care which, but they were supremely useful. For a spy organization, many of the members were... incompetent. He would change that one day.

For now though, he would focus on finding Sam.

With that in mind, Scam walked towards his car.

Twenty minutes later, Jerry's voice fizzled through the phone before a clear connection was made. Interesting. It was as if the spies had a distorter device located in their house to prevent any other communication devices, besides WOOHP, to spy on them. Smart.

"Any luck on finding her?"

Tim shook his head, "Not yet. I have an idea of her disguise but no clue where she might be headed now. I'm checking out her home."

"Tim, if you have an idea of what she looks like-"

"No Jerry. I can't risk anyone at WOOHP to inform Ms. Simpson of our awareness of her new identity. It's safer if I hold onto the image."

He could hear Jerry frowning. "Tim, are you saying there may be an enemy inside WOOHP?"

"It's possible... You can never be too sure."

Tim hung up before Jerry (the curious old man that he was) could keep asking him questions. He walked up to the front door and quickly picked the lock.

Walking inside and shutting the door behind him, Tim looked around the graciously spaced home and the cluttering of shoes and books that told him that female students lived here.

He passed by the unnecessary items and went straight for what he assumed was Sam's room. He glanced around and found pictures of her and her friends, her and her parents...

Her parents...

A girl like Sam was bound to be attached to her mother, if these pictures were any evidence.

With a quick few taps into his phone, Tim found her mother's address and climbed out the window and through the back in case anyone was watching for him in the front.

* * *

Half an hour later, he had driven to Gaby Simpson's home. He saw a car in the driveway and some other cars parked on the street, but other than that, the street was clear. He got out of his car and started checking out the area for any cameras and anything that could tie him to this place before he saw a flash of dark red run into a car a few spaces away from him.

Glimpsing at her quickly, Tim knew it had to be Sam. She must have recognized him and escaped the second she saw him outside her house. Tim grumbled. She was already speeding away and he shifted his car into drive to chase after her.

He turned right, then left, then another left and another right, staying on her trail despite her constant turns and quick speed. Fifteen minutes in and she had led him to some abandoned warehouse factory on the edge of the river.

She got out of the car, realizing that she would have to fight to get away from him.

"What do you want!" She yelled. Tim stepped out of the car and walked to her slowly, raising his hands as if to make peace with her.

"My name's Tim... I just want to help you out."

"Liar!" She screamed, taking a defensive stance. "I know you're from WOOHP." Tim almost rolled his eyes and started coming closer to her, and Sam bolted for the warehouse.

He ran after her, not stopping until he saw her standing in the shadows of the warehouse. He sighed, and decided to try the softer approach. "Jerry is worried for you", he said, while pressing a small button on his phone to let Jerry know she had been found.

He heard her soft crying in the corner and his gut told him that this girl couldn't have been a traitor. "He asked me to find you because he's scared something happened to you... He's upset."

Sam sniffled, stepping out of the shadows slowly so that he could see her face. Her dark hair glittered in the dim lighting and he found that his prediction of her new hairstyle was correct.

"Why, because his precious agent is a traitor?"

"It's not too late to fix this."

"If you want me to go back there, then I refuse to do it!" Sam said, tears flowing more freely now. "Do you even know _why_ I left?"

Tim kept his face impassive. "I'm hoping you would tell me."

Silence rained between them and Sam looked at him with new eyes as she placed a name to that face.

"Tim Scam right?" she asked, taking his tiny nod as an acknowledgement to her question. She sighed. Of all people, he should know what was going on.

"I ... found out something I shouldn't have a month back. I had hacked into WOOHP's security files on their agents one day", she started, and her heart twisted as she remembered the disgust that came with viewing that information. "What they're planning... It's... inhumane", she said with a guttural sound in her throat, the sobs ready to burst again. She looked at him with fire in her eyes, a sign of the anger she felt when she realized the plans, the disgusting, inhumane _plans_. Finally the tears and the anger couldn't hold still and she burst.

"Do you know they have tabs on who they plan on making... ROGUES like me?" She said, screaming at him with tears in her eyes. "Do you know that they classify _you_ as slightly sociopathic and deem you as a risk? They plan on making you a rogue so that they can make an EXAMPLE out of you!"

Tim grew entirely still. He didn't let Sam see the shock on his face that was trembling through his body. He had mastered his poker face for situations like this.

Sam kept crying, and the sound of thunder echoed around him in the empty, abandoned building.

"That's why I left..." She said quietly, the anger leaving her body. All that was left was bitter sorrow. "I didn't want to be a part of... of _that_."

They stayed silent together for a while. Sam plopped down on the floor out of exhaustion. Tim looked at the beautiful girl with calculating eyes.

He had figured WOOHP had some sort of back up plan in case any agents were thinking of betraying WOOHP... He just didn't expect it to be himself. And by the way Jerry was upset over Sam's betrayal, Tim figured that Sam wasn't Jerry's pick to go rogue.

He was.

He would have been angrier if it wasn't for the sight of a crying girl in front of him. If he got angry now, she would see her own anger as a sign of approval and would continue to ruin her own life. She was a brilliant girl, he remembered, having read her file. She had a whole life of success in front of her. He couldn't let her do this to herself.

"Why didn't you just quit WOOHP?" He asked her, coming closer to sit down next to her. It would show her that he was a friend, that he was on her side. That way he really could bring her to his side.

She chuckled mirthlessly, "They would never let someone like me quit. They like me too much... Besides", she said, looking at him with a small smile and sad eyes, "If a top agent didn't go rogue, they would have used you."

And that's when his mask broke.

He stared at her in shock. He didn't know this girl well enough to predict her own reactions and thoughts (which was something that did bother him. He didn't like being unaware of everything around him).

He was very glad he had smashed his communicator in the fight earlier. He also didn't have another communication device on his person, and it was precisely because he _wasn't_ a field agent.

He fingered the tiny chip in his pocket before looking at Sam.

"Listen to me", he said quietly. "While I agree with you, WOOHP isn't going to change their minds about me."

"They already did!" She exclaimed, "They already sent you out into the field! You're not just some hidden Weapons Specialist anymore! You're not expendable! They know they can't get rid of you or make an example out of you because you are one of the best!"

His eyes narrowed while a small smirk marred his face, "How do you know about that?" Well he knew how she knew, but he liked to tease a pretty girl as much as anyone else. Besides, he figured a little flirtation would help him more than hinder him in this case. If she was attracted to him, it'd be easier for them to complete his plan.

One thing Sam didn't know however... Is that Tim knew he had slight sociopathic tendencies. He ordered the psychological evaluations himself.

Sam blushed, "I... Uh, read your files." Tim's smirk grew a little wider, and Sam's blush grew a little deeper.

What she also didn't know... Is that he planned for some top agent to find those "plans" about him on their own. He just didn't expect it to be a pretty female agent with good intentions, who felt an attraction towards him.

"Listen... I'm not letting you ruin your life like this. Which is why you will wear this", he said, taking out the red chip. "I'm going to take it off you, smash it and tell Jerry that you've been under mind control. He knows you've been acting oddly since your latest mission."

Sam stood up in outrage, "I'm not going back there _Tim_!"

He stood up and grabbed her wrist before she could run away from him again. This cat and mouse chase ended _now_.

"To change WOOHP we have to do it from the inside. You're right, if I become a successful field agent, Jerry will not want to lose me in some stupid half-baked plan." He pulled her closer and Sam would have blushed at their close proximity had it not been for their heated discussion. "But the only way to prove that to him is to take you back there and either show him you haven't deflected, or give you a mind wipe. And I refuse to let you lose your memories over _me_."

He could see the battle in her eyes and her rosy face told him that he had said the right thing to get her to like him a lot more. Good.

Everything really was going according to plan. A shame that he had to use Samantha like this, but at least this gave him more space to get closer to her later on.

WOOHP had no plans of getting rid of one of their smartest agents. There was no way. Which is the only reason he had to forge those documents and hide them deep in WOOHP's databases in such a way that Jerry could never find them but someone like Sam could have.

"When we get back..." Tim whispered, looking and sounding like the well-mannered, honest and innocent man who had no idea this was going on behind his back, "We can both continue to rise to the top, and it is from there that Jerry will choose his successor."

And there it was. His true plan.

"And if he chooses one of us to be his successors", Sam trailed off, a smile appearing on her face.

"Then we can change WOOHP from the inside", he said, finishing her sentence.

He had no shot at becoming the head of WOOHP. He wasn't trusted enough.

But Sam was. And what better way to control WOOHP...

_Than to control the girl running it?_

He let go of her wrist, (Sam was disappointed but wouldn't dare show it), before offering his hand in a handshake position.

"Partners?" He asked charmingly.

Tim knew the second Jerry told him that he was planning on making Sam his successor, that he had to get her on his side.

Sam smiled and placed her hand in his, "Yes."

He smiled at her before looking away with a frown. "Jerry most likely deleted all of those files by now. He can't risk someone finding them and connecting it to your disappearance." Sam nodded at that. Tim of course knew that Jerry did no such thing. He himself had deleted those files the second he heard a rumor of an agent stealing a few weapons from his department, (which he conveniently left out in the open for her to find).

"Well I'm going to make sure WOOHP never makes plans like those again", she said firmly, and Tim took a moment to admire her dedication to her goals. It would have been nice (yet useless) if he had strong moral values like her. However, they would both be stuck with the short end of the stick if he had. Well, she wouldn't. But he would, which is what made him such a conniving, selfish bastard in the first place.

The sound of choppers filled their ears and Tim cursed under his breath. WOOHP had found them sooner rather than later.

"Come here", he whispered in case Jerry was wearing audio enhancing ear pieces. He motioned her to turn around, and once she did so he moved her hair and placed the chip on the back of her neck.

"Ow!" She bit her lip when she felt the chip puncture her skin.

"Sorry, standard procedure with mind control devices, fake or not", he said, adding a charming smile for good effect. He could feel her swooning. He was _so_ happy that it was her who found those files in the first place. (Not that anyone could have found them. Their I.Q. couldn't be under 150, for example.)

"Now...", he said, turning her around and getting into a battle stance. "How well can you act?"

Sam smiled.

Tim came out of the broken building with a limp woman hanging unconscious in his arms. He looked up at the bright lights and nodded twice, a sign that it was clear. Mission over.

Jerry came down one of the ropes from the helicopters whirling above them. "You got her?" The unasked question was hidden. Dead or alive?

"She's unconscious, but yeah. I got her."

Tim walked closer towards Jerry after signaling to him that there was something wrong.

He held out his hand and a few red broken pieces of technology fell out of his hands and into Jerry's. Jerry looked at him with a mixture of shock and relief.

"I found it embedded behind her neck... You were right. She really hasn't been herself since her last mission." Jerry nodded, a smile almost breaking out on his face, but he contained it so that the other agents wouldn't see it. He signaled Tim to follow him into the chopper, Sam in hand. Another hand signal later, Jerry told the other agents in black that it was all clear.

Sitting in the chopper where less ears were around to hear them, Jerry told Tim to continue. Mustering his best "sympathetic" face, Tim looked at the sleeping Sam with a frown.

"We were fighting when I noticed it...", Tim lifted Sam up and positioned her in a way so that Jerry saw the back of her head. He took a second to admire the soft skin under his fingers as he brushed her hair away, and a part of him grew excited to have such a woman under his control.

"Oh my..." Jerry said, noticing the puncture wound on Sam's neck.

"When I crushed the device, it was like she woke up from a dream... She couldn't remember anything and was asking for her teammates."

Jerry closed his eyes and let out a breath of relief. "Thank the heavens..."

With a grateful smile, Jerry looked at him and placed a hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner. "Thank you Tim. You did a great job."

Oh, he _knew_ he did.

"Anytime Jerry", he said with a small smile, and silently squeezed Sam's hand to comfort her as well. It wasn't easy to fake unconscious in front of trained spies; she was definitely an expert spy. He was impressed.

His plan went even better than expected.

* * *

It took three years but the moment he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

Jerry, head president of WOOHP for thirty years, was stepping down. He was going to name his successor at the farewell ceremony tonight.

"I'd like to present an agent who has given eight years of her life to protecting civilians, serving this organization and everything it stands for... A woman who is brilliant, beautiful and bold, and she is a truly a prodigy. It is my honor to present this prestigious standing to one of the finest agents WOOHP has seen in a century, a woman who I see as a daughter ... Ms. Samantha, soon to be the future Mrs. Timothy Scam, Simpson!" He said with a chuckle as the crowd roared out with applause.

Sam, blushing in her golden strapless evening gown, stood up from her chair, blushing and smiling in pride and happiness. Besides her, Tim squeezed her hand and stood up to give her a quick kiss on the lips before urging her to go up the stage.

"Thank you... Thank you Jerry. I really am what I am today because of the training and mentorship you gave me. I wouldn't even be at this level if it weren't for your guidance and love. Thank you for everything. I know I speak for everyone when I say that I will miss you so much... You breathed life into this organization and we thank you for that." Smiling at the audience, the large crowd that was looking at her in awe and excitement, a crowd that had no idea of how Jerry's strings were pulled for the last three years, she continued to speak, "I am honored to accept this award and this position as WOOHP's new head president. Together we will continue to bring success to this organization, and protect the innocent, protect the weak, protect those who cannot do so for themselves against the terrors that we all have faced. Thank you!"

The crowd cheered as Sam stepped down from the podium, stopping to hug her mother and father, Clover and Alex, and of course, Jerry. Each of them congratulated her in happiness, and after walking through the crowd and greeting members of WOOHP, Sam was finally able to stop in front of her fiancé.

Tim pulled her into a short kiss, before raising his hands to hers and dancing with her to the soft music that begun playing.

"Well, well... Look at you all grown up", he said with a smirk. Sam rolled her eyes but was too happy to care.

"It took a while... but we got here", she said softly, smiling at him. Tim's smirk turned into a small smile. He pressed his forehead against hers as a touch of endearment.

"Congrats. I'm so proud of you", he said sincerely. He was proud. Sam gave him more than he ever expected. When he started his plan all those years ago, he never expected this result, dancing with a beautiful woman who was intelligent... but also had that innocence, the naivety needed for her to fall for him, fall for this plan and not question it.

She was perfect.

Sam smiled, looking around them. They could finally start their revamping of WOOHP, could finally destroy the corruption that had plagued the company secretly, like a virus that laid dormant in the body, eating away at the body's defenses but not showing any symptoms. She would be damned if she let WOOHP, an organization dedicated to protecting the weak and those who couldn't protect themselves, be quietly destroyed by the very man who had created it.

And to think, she would have been a puppet in this whole charade if it weren't for Tim.

Looking at her fiancé, and his broad frame and handsome face, she remembered his reluctance to let her destroy her life for him- a girl he didn't even know, and he was willing to risk himself for her. She knew she would not be here if it weren't for him. In fact, if it weren't for that chip in his pocket, she would probably be an amnesic shell of herself-

Wait.

How _did _Tim know to have that chip in his pocket? Was it really such coincidence? He couldn't have known that... that he would need it...

No. She was being silly. This was a man she was in love with and she wouldn't let such a tiny, nagging suspicion bring doubt into their relationship.

But then again... it was that same doubt that caused her to find those reports on Tim in the first place. Speaking of those...

She couldn't go on not knowing the truth. She could at least ask him about it.

"You know what I just realized..." Sam said quietly as her mind made a serious turn. "You had that chip in your pocket... As if you knew you had to use it."

He continued dancing because he knew following the urge to grow still at her suspicions was a mistake. He took back what he said about her naivety; Sam was brilliant. _Too_ brilliant. He shouldn't have been so careless.

Time to rectify that mistake, one that he wouldn't make so easily again.

"Three years and this is bugging you now?" he asked with a smirk, being able to recognize when something was bothering her. He had hoped that taking the humor route would distract her.

It didn't.

Sam looked down at the floor with a pensive expression. They continued dancing to give a show for the other agents who were watching them, but they both knew the energy of it had died down.

Tim sighed. This is what he gets for being with a woman as smart as he was. Five years of planning down the drain. "Let's go outside for a walk."

Recognizing the tone and the message behind that sentence, Sam followed him to an open balcony. They both glanced around to make sure no one else was there, including cameras and audio surveillance, before resting against the railing and looking out into the air of California.

Tim sighed. He was berating himself for not preparing for the possibility of Sam questioning his methods back when they first met, but he had been ... sidetracked, with making sure Jerry would make Sam his successor again.

"... I found those ... plans on me long before you did."

Sam looked up at him in shock, and was about to ask why he didn't do anything about it, but he beat her to it.

"WOOHP... It's my life. I've given everything I had to this place, and when I found out what they had planned for me...", Tim scratched his head as an indicator of discomfort that he noticed some men had when they were speaking of something unpleasant, "I don't know. If using me as a scapegoat would help WOOHP... I would have let them done it."

Sam didn't say anything, so when he looked at her he found her on the verge of tears. He knew he had her then, and he was glad that choosing her was not a mistake that he would have to... fix. "But then I found out you disappeared and that WOOHP had deemed you as a threat. So I did some digging."

Tim rose from his place on the railing and walked closer to her. He softly reached for her face and sighed in relief when she didn't push him away. "I saw that you searched for those files and I knew it was a possibility that figuring it out had made you believe that WOOHP was an enemy. So you ran."

"Oh Tim..." Sam said, knowing where he was going with this.

"I couldn't let you ruin your life like that, and I knew I needed to make sure I stopped you from making the biggest mistake of your life."

"... So you brought the chip", Sam said, smiling. She wrapped her arms around his neck and reached in for a kiss, something that he reciprocated. She leaned into his warm embrace, letting him know that he wouldn't have to worry about her silly suspicions and that everything was fine. They would fix the problems of WOOHP together, and they would be married soon and everything would be alright.

"Hey lovebirds!"

The couple separated for a minute to see Clover calling them.

"C'mon, there's a toast in your honor! Stop hiding from the world and get down here!"

Sam smiled at her friend and motioned to Scam to follow her. He stopped walking when he realized she wasn't following him. His redheaded fiancee just smiled.

"I'll be down in a second... I just need to use the bathroom really quickly!"

Tim chuckled, knowing that those nagging doubts had left their relationship, and now Tim could move onto controlling WOOHP the way he had been dreaming to for years. He walked down the steps back into the room, leaving Sam to look out the balcony on her own.

The smile she had been wearing had faded slightly.

She loved Tim. She really did, probably more than she loved anyone.

But there were holes in his story.

She had kept a tiny surveillance camera in Jerry's office. She knew Jerry didn't tell anyone, not even Clover or Alex, about her status as a missing agent. The first three agents assigned to track her down were sworn to secrecy, and she knew them well enough to know that they would never betray Jerry. Then Tim came along.

Tim was one of the first few people to find out, and she knew he had been assigned to her case right away. He didn't have time to hack the files to see if she was the one who tracked the down.

So how would he know that those dreaded files... the ones that had suspiciously gone "missing" after she returned to WOOHP, would be the reason she left?

He wouldn't...

She didn't have much proof to go on. But in her position, she was able to find out.

She loved Tim, she really did, but she knew he was hiding something from her.

And she would find out what.

* * *

**... The End.**

**(Yes, I did totally leave you all there. Can I do that? Of course I can. I'm the author. ;) )**

**Let me know what you think please! Reviews would make me feel like I didn't waste my time all these months :) But it was definitely fun to write in short bursts, and I hope I haven't lost my touch.**

**Also, maybe in the next month or so... Expect a sequel to my story "Prisoners of War"!**

Anyways, I'm supposed to be studying so, ta ta for now.

- Iv.


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